Police Scotland are issuing ‘threat to life’ alerts to major criminals at a rate of one every month, ‘alarming’ new figures show.
The Mail can reveal 11 so-called ‘Osman warnings’ were sent out by the force last year, pushing the total since 2021 to 68.
Osman letters are issued to an identified ‘victim’ where it is ‘assessed there is a specific “real and immediate” threat to their safety’.
They are sent because police in Scotland have a legal duty to protect life – so they must pass on intelligence about threats.
The figures come amid escalating gangland warfare and concerns that policing cuts have left the single force under-equipped to combat high-level gangsters and tackle rising violent crime.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘These alarming figures highlight the huge pressure Police Scotland faces in dealing with regular and credible threats to life, which is doubtless fuelled by gangland rivalry.
‘After years of SNP cuts, officers are being stretched to breaking point, raising serious questions about whether every threat is being spotted and dealt with in time.
‘The public will rightly be concerned that an overstretched police force is being left to manage life or death situations, and the carnage caused by organised criminal gangs, without the resources it needs.’
Gangsters Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr were gunned down outside a bar in Spain
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the ‘alarming figures highlight the huge pressure Police Scotland faces in dealing with regular and credible threats to life’
Feuds between rival gangs have seen properties torched, businesses destroyed, and homes shot at.
The turf wars began in Edinburgh before spilling to the west of the country last year.
In April last year, Police Scotland said officers had visited more than 100 homes and seized almost 700 hours of CCTV footage amid the violence as they attempted to crackdown on the chaos.
Threat to life warnings are a result of a case that was heard at the European Court of Human Rights back in 1998, where the police in England were found to have failed to pass on a credible threat to Ali Osman, who was subsequently murdered.
Former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher, an expert on organised crime, said: ‘The culture that has developed since it was determined the police have a duty to pass on these threats is that the police will almost always err on the side of caution.
‘This means that despite professional judgment suggesting that threats may not actually be carried out, the warning will be passed on.
‘The need for the warnings provision has operational implications.
‘It restricts the ability of the police to undertake pre-planned operations to monitor and intercept a would be killer in the act, which would attract a significant custodial sentence.’
Mr Gallagher said the warnings can be ‘abused by criminals who can issue threats they know will not be carried out, to check if the police have the ability to monitor their communications’.
He said they will ‘issue a supposed threat in certain circles as a “test” and see if the police will in turn issue a threat to life warning’.
If the police do, the criminal knows their communication methods are compromised.
Mr Gallagher said: ‘Only the most sophisticated criminals resort to such tactics – but in the end, they are the ones you have to worry about the most.’
In one of the most notorious incidents of violence in organised crime, Scottish gangsters Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, were shot dead in Spain in May last year while they watched the Champions League final in Monaghan’s bar in Fuengirola.
Both victims were linked to the Lyons crime group, based in Scotland, which has been in a deadly feud with the Daniel clan for almost 20 years.
Michael Terrence Riley was arrested in Liverpool after the shooting and is currently awaiting trial in Spain.
David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, called for urgent investment in frontline policing to tackle the growing gangland activity.
He said: ‘Police officers are doing all they can, but the simple truth is that there are not enough officers to meet the rising demand.
‘Officers are under immense pressure, with chronic staffing shortages making it harder to respond proactively and disrupt gang activity before it escalates.
‘Unless investment is made in frontline policing, we fear this trend will continue -and that more lives will be at risk as a result.’
Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Higgins said: ‘Police Scotland will take all reasonable steps to protect the lives of people where there is a real and immediate risk to them.
‘Threat to life warnings, personal safety advice and disruption notices are issued for a number of reasons.
‘This can include any form of criminal or potential criminal incidents where the threat, risk and harm is assessed to require the issue of a warning, advice or notice to keep people safe.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Threat‑to‑life warnings, personal safety advice and disruption notices are issued for a range of reasons.
‘We are investing a record £1.7billion in policing for 2026–27 and our continuing investment enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in the last financial year than at any time since 2013, with a further intake planned in March.
‘Scotland remains a safe place to live, with more police officers per capita than England and Wales, and recorded crime has fallen by half since 1991.’
